Life after pain
by Inlovewithcomedy99
Summary: At the end of their 'date', Crowley and Jody discuss the pain of losing the ones you love.


**A oneshot that popped into my head that would not leave alone until I wrote it.**

 **At the end of their 'date', Crowley and Jody discuss the pain of losing the ones you love.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters.**

He had intended to leave. Previous experiences had taught him to never hang around after he'd done what he'd intended to. It was not appealing to Crowley to still have to be here when someone discovered her bloody and possibly unconscious, nor to sit around in an hospital waiting room pretending to care whether or not his 'date' would pull through.

Dropping an extremely generous tip onto the table, Crowley stood ready to make his inconspicuous leave, when she emerged from the ladies, a little pale and shaky but still functional. She approached him and her eyes darted to the bill on the table, before looking back at him with confusion and worry in her eyes. He forced on his most charming smile and smoothly explained, "You were in there so long I thought you'd bailed on our date and climbed out the window." This was a lie, but he was relieved to see she brought it, giggling and blushing like a school girl. "I'm glad you didn't."

"As if I would!" She scoffed, the blush that stained her checks showing her loss for words. "I just had a bit of a problem. So…are we gonna sit down?" She coyly inclined her head to the table, grinning in a way he guessed was supposed to be seductive.

He thought for a heartbeat. He had no other pressing engagements that required his immediate attention, and with his deal with the Winchesters virtually in the bag (he just had to get moose to sign his pre-prepared contract and exchange the tablets then everything would be back in order) and what the hell, he felt like celebrating his victory a little. He flashed her another charming grin. "Of course," and being the perfect gentleman, helped her into her seat and gestured to the waitress to bring over more drinks, as he sat in his own.

Once the waitress had placed their drinks on the table, scurrying off as quickly as she came, Crowley looked up and noticed that her eyes were on him, as though she was trying to read him and answer whatever questions she still held. "Jody," He whispered, reaching forward and taking her hand in his. _Wow this caring façade was exhausting._ "What's wrong?"

Jody shook her head, chewing her lip nervously. She sighed when Crowley said softly, "You can tell me.", and hastily blurted out, "I was just wondering when you said you'd lost someone I was kinda wondering who." She widened her eyes, stuttering, "Of course you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I mean it's your business, but I was…just…wondering." She ended lamely.

Crowley froze and blinked dumbly at her. "Ah, no it's fine." _Crap._ He hadn't thought he'd need to come up with a background story, but now she was sitting here looking expectantly at him, waiting for him to bare his soul. _Crap._ He racked his brains, desperately trying to come up with a plausible sob story. He could come up with nothing until his mind suddenly took him to a memory he had long shoved into a deep redundant corner of his mind. A memory of a beautiful angel with burgundy hair and cobalt eyes, dressed in a pristine pant suit. "I er…," He felt a lump form in his throat, unsure of why it was there. He swallowed several times, trying to dislodge it. "I lost my… _partner,_ I suppose you'd call her."

Jody nodded sympathetically. "Where you with her long?" _You have no idea._

"On and off for quite some time." _And wasn't that true._

"Well?" Jody leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "What was she like?"

Crowley considered this for a moment, furrowing his brow deep in thought. "She was…strong willed. Independent. Quite family orientated, with a work ethic that would make a weaker man shudder. Also a bit of a bureaucrat." He chuckled lightly as he recalled her reaction when he first called her that. "She could be kind or callous at the flick of a switch and she was a 'no nonsense' kind of gal. We argued like cats and dogs most of the time. But she was beautiful. Despite her attitudes, she was fond of the simpler things in life." He swallowed again. "At work, all she wanted was order, but when we were together she preferred the chaos of everyday life. She wanted to escape and forget. To put aside our differences for a while and just be." Laughing humourlessly, he added, "But no matter how hard we tried, they always caught up with us."

"What happened?"

His head shot up sharply, his face was riddled with long forgotten pain. "She was taken from me." He spat, remembering those stuffy feathered twits she called her brothers and sisters. "I begged her to leave with me, we had the world at our feet and she said no. She could not leave her family when they needed her most. She promised one day she would but not yet. And then she was gone," he gestured with his hand. "They disapproved of us and when they found out, from what I heard they gave her the _ultimate punishment_ and I was left in Hell." He tensed as he realised he had given away too much, but was relieved when she seemed to take it as a metaphor. Sometimes that's all his life with her felt like. One long imagined metaphor.

"I'm so sorry." Jody whispered, tears forming in her eyes. He was sure it was just the alcohol making her over emotional. Humans tended to get like that. "How could her own family do something like that?"

"Don't be." He murmured, detecting bitterness in his voice. "And, to quote a dear friend of mine, they're dicks. We were playing with fire. For too long we tried to play a dangerous game and in the end we failed and lost it all."

"But you loved her."

Her comment caught him off guard, so much so, that he could not think of a reply, so just stuttered, "W-What?"

Jody smiled softly, "I can tell you loved her very much. You go all dreamy eyed when you talk about her." Her nostrils flared as she giggled lightly, "And by the sound of it, she loved you too. I know before we had our son, me and my husband used to feel like it was us against the world," Her face slackened with sadness, "But we persevered and in the end people came around."

"You never met Naomi's family." He chuckled, "They hated the idea of me _tainting_ their sister."

Jody gave a small smile. "Her name was Naomi?" It was more of a question than a statement, and Crowley just nodded in agreement. "It's a nice name. Well then," Jody raised her glass. "Here's to life after pain."

Crowley raised his glass and tapped it against hers, whispering, "Life after pain." They continued to talk for another half hour, before the waitress gave them many not too subtle hints that she wanted them to hurry up and leave so she could put another couple there. So after Crowley had settled the bill (well he was in a good mood, and if he was trying to act the gentleman, it would do no good to blow his cover now) and escorted her outside. They both stood facing each other outside the restaurant, ready to say their goodbyes.

"Thank you," Jody said, "I had a great time tonight. It's nice to get out for a different reason other than work."

"I agree." Crowley replied, "And I'm glad you had fun."

Grinning madly at him, Jody fished around in her purse and produced a pen and pad. She proceeded to scribble a line of digits on it, and tore the page from the pad, handing it to Crowley as she stretched up and kissed him on the cheek. "If you ever wanna chat about the past… or even the future, then err give me a call." She gave him one last coy look, then twirled around and strutted alluringly away. Well, she tried to anyway, however she wobbled alarmingly due to how intoxicated she had become during the night.

He glanced down at the scrap of paper and looked up across the street. For a moment, he was convinced that he saw a woman in a grey pant suit, with piercing sapphire eyes staring back at him, but he put it down to his mind playing tricks on him as she was gone as soon as he blinked.

He looked at the paper again and back at the spot where he thought she had been moments before. Jody's words from earlier filled his mind. _And by the sound of it, she loved you too._ For the first time in centuries, a soft smile curled his lips and he felt a light fluttering in his chest. He clenched his fist and dropped the scrunched up ball of paper to the ground.

No, he would not be calling Jody Mills any time soon.

 **Well that's the result of what you get when you mix me with Supernatural, depressingly sad love songs and being stuck indoors for days, doing art (Drawing these two incidentally). But please leave me a review, I'd love to know what you all think of it.**


End file.
